1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally concerned with reducing the data rate in the processing of signal values with digital signal processing units. More specifically, the present invention is directed to a signal evaluation apparatus, and method, for data reduction in the processing of signal values in a transmission system wherein: (a) a block with k signal values is stored in fixed decimal point format; (b) a maximum value of the k signal values is defined; and (c) the k signal values are converted into floating decimal point format such that individual mantissas and a common exponent are determined for the converted k signal values.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Great data quantities are typically transmitted and processed in transmission systems such as, for example, the GSM mobile radio telephone system (global system for mobile communication) given either a mobile communication system or a modem connection. The received signal values are processed in digital signal processing units in a receiver device, whereby a data rate of 8.67 Mbit/s (for the in-phase and the quadrature component per 270833 samples at 16 bit per second) is to be processed. Such data processing is experienced, for example, in a GSM receiver after the proper analog-to-digital conversion.
According to the data sheet AD7015 of Analog Devcies, 1996, these digital signal values corresponding to the individual samples of the analog reception signal are presented as fixed decimal point numbers and are further processed in additional assemblies, for example, channel equalizers. Given the complexity associated with the processing of digital signal values in fixed decimal point format, a more compact presentation of the digital signal values is needed.